aimtrack ir sensor bar.. can it be built?

[kronick]

Hello fellow diy'ers am wondering if it is possible to build one of the light sensor bars used with aimtrack guns. I recently purchased a couple but didn't grab the ir bar at the time and now of course i need it.

looks like a very basic design but reading another thread someone asked if they could use a wiimote bar for the aimtrack the answer was no a different setup is needed but you can use a wiimote on the aimtrack bar,, strange to me but anyways. is there  instructions somewhere that would work for me or can someone take some quality pics of there aimtrack ir bar and post them maybe that would help. just trying to save on ordering one plus these little projects are fun

[drventure]

You can get IR LEDs at radio shack that work just fine.

You put 5 on the left, clustered close together in a line (a little less than .5 in on centers, then about 5 inches to the right, mount 1 more.

Use the LED calc to figure the resistors you'll need

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Worked for me (for both the aimtrack and the wiimote).

[kronick]

great thanks for the reply great info now i have to get some IR leds.

since im building it myself maybe you or someone would have an answer for this but does the bar size length matter for tv size

[Nephasth]

So if you can make your own IR bar... can you hook them up to an LED controller, assign them to a common input found in gun games (i.e. trigger) in LEDBlinky, and have them only come on when a gun game is selected? Sounds like it should work to me. I'll give it a try when I finally add AimTraks to my setup (many months down the road)... Not enough spare inputs.

[drventure]

I suppose you could. I've got mine running off a standard 5v dc source, so I could have easily hooked them up to my LEDWiz, but why bother?

You can't see them when they're on, and since they're LED's they aren't really likely to burn out in any kind of normal timeframe.

And they aren't UV, so there's not any harm in them being on and aimed at you.

HOWEVER, if you wanted to put some normal LED's interspersed with the IR ones to make it more flashy, that I could see doing. IE when a gun game is selected, the IR bar lights up (indicating that you're playing a gun game.)

But that might get distracting unless you diffuse them significantly.

[pinballjim]

Toggle them via relay that engages when the gun is turned on?

[drventure]

since im building it myself maybe you or someone would have an answer for this but does the bar size length matter for tv size

I believe it does. ie if the tv is HUGE the separation between the LEDs on the left and the one on the right needs to be bigger. But how much bigger I wouldn't know.

Build it on a sliding "expando" base and you can play with just how big you should make it.

One thing though. be sure to leave the LEDs as exposed as possible. I put mine in a copper and brass enclosure (it fits in with my cab build....) but they aren't quite exposed enough, so their "field of view" is pretty narrow for the gun.

I'll probably tweak that slightly once I get closer to putting guns in play.

[Nephasth]

Toggle them via relay that engages when the gun is turned on?

Pretty much the way to go, I was thinking just a slide switch mounted in the gun itself.

You can't see them when they're on...

I can see a faint glint of light coming off of every IR LED on our security cameras at work during the night...

[kronick]

great idea putting it on a sliding scale now i have a ruler with my name on it..

maybe you or someone can answer this irrelevant( maybe ) question

why 5 and 1 for ir's?

why not 10 and 1 or 2,,  or 10 and 10 is there reason behind it as wii sensors seem to only have 2 ir's why 5 for aimtrack.

also when you say exposed do you mean the whole diode head or just the tip of the head, so how do they hide them behind the red tinted plastic in some operations.


another weird question if anyone knows the answer  when you disassemble a standard light gun they have a magnifying glass like piece in the barrel should i replace that in my gun if im using the aimtrack now? or are people leaving it open or using something else?? just wondering

[drventure]

why 5 and 1 for ir's?
why not 10 and 1 or 2,,  or 10 and 10 is there reason behind it as wii sensors seem to only have 2 ir's why 5 for aimtrack.

also when you say exposed do you mean the whole diode head or just the tip of the head, so how do they hide them behind the red tinted plastic in some operations.

another weird question if anyone knows the answer  when you disassemble a standard light gun they have a magnifying glass like piece in the barrel should i replace that in my gun if im using the aimtrack now? or are people leaving it open or using something else?? just wondering

About the 5-1 arrangement, I suspect it doesn't technically matter, but I believe the tracking software in the gun looks for, essentially, a "DASH-DOT" type of pattern, so the 5 close together make the DASH and the one lone LED to the side makes the DOT.

But that's mainly a guess on my part.

as for exposing the LEDs, I probably shouldn't have even said anything there. My installation is so out there compared to any normal install, it doesn't really count. Mount the leds on a flat breadboard, put them behind some smoked plex and you'll be fine.

I'm not sure about the purpose of the magnifying glass but the aimtraks don't need it, otherwise, something like it would surely have come in the kit. I'd probably toss it in my parts drawer, but I don't think you'll want to keep it in place.

[kronick]

good info

i asked about the ir placement because and count because I found a "super ir sensor bar" on  this website here http://www.arcadeguns.com/index.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=225&reviews_id=45

basically says it will replace a stock sensor bar I was going to buy one then thought I would build one as it would cost less... thats still to be determined

still if anyone has any further input it would be greatly appreciated

[matsadona]

For old light guns, the magnifying glass was essential I think, in order to have a "narrow" field of view and then some accuracy. (Photo diode)

The new IR tracking guns need to have a wide field of view, since it must see all the IR dots at the same time. (Camera)